Helicopters usually include a slide which, in order to have control over the physical effects that are peculiar to the helicopter, consists of runners and flexible tubes with a defined spring characteristic used as a landing gear. This landing gear fulfils most conditions of application of a helicopter, yet has great disadvantages in the event of movement of the helicopter on the ground.
In order to render possible movement or displacement of the helicopter on the ground, the runners of the helicopter, which are aligned in parallel to each other, may each include a respective transport wheel which is capable of being jacked up. In order to prevent the helicopter from tipping or to minimize the forces for the operating personnel, the assembly of the two transport wheels should as far as possible be effected in such a way that, when viewed in the axial direction or in the longitudinal direction of the helicopter, the position of the overall centre of gravity of the helicopter lies on or in the immediate vicinity of an imaginary connecting line of the two transport wheels.
Such transport wheels for a helicopter are used in Eurocopter EC 135 helicopter, for example.
The position of the overall centre of gravity of a helicopter, depending on various load states of the helicopter, such as, for example, refuelling, additional loading etc., is not constant.
The known transport wheels prove to be disadvantageous since they do not enable there to be sufficient adjustment to the respective position of the centre of gravity of the helicopter. The consequence of this is that the overall centre of gravity of the helicopter does not always lie above the imaginary connecting line of the transport wheels, that is, significant moments or operating forces result. In order to compensate for these moments or forces it is necessary to use trim weights.